In 1967 Liberation Publishing House -- which was the publishing house of the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front -- put out a remarkable series of folders that contained sketches drawn by artists who were on the front line of the fight to liberate South Vietnam.

Called "South Vietnam Land and People" these amazing portraits of resistance run from drawings of sites that had been bombed by the Americans, to liberated villages, to individual guerrilla fighters. All were originally done in pen or crayon and, in this installment, date from 1964 or 1966.

While there are sketches from several artists, the most, by far, are by a remarkable artist Huynh Phuong Dong. Dong, happily, survived the war and died at the age of 88 in 2015. He is regarded in Vietnam as one of the greatest creators of what is called 'Liberation Art'.

These folders were accompanied by a brief but very moving leaflet that speaks of the terrible brutality and barbarity of the war and the spirit of resistance.

This is the second of two parts showing some of the sketches. They are divided by artist and are accompanied by their title/subject.

Our lives as Indigenous women and girls are severely impacted by male violence, poverty, and other expressions of patriarchy, capitalism, and racism. We should, therefore, be allowed to prioritize issues that directly impact us. But some Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals believe that we should now, at the eleventh hour, rethink and redo decades of focused political strategy and no longer support a national inquiry into disappeared and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Rather, they say we should expand the national inquiry to include disappeared and murdered Indigenous men and boys.Read the full article.

2) Obama and the Clintons still have no earthly idea why the Democratic Party lost the presidential election Shaun King, New York Daily News
Over the past few days, the Obamas and the Clintons have made a series of statements on why the Democratic Party lost the presidential election to Donald Trump. The statements, if anything, reveal what happens when politicians are isolated from the American public for so long. While some nuggets of truth could be found there — by and large they all severely miss the mark on how and why Hillary Clinton lost. Instead of looking internally at mistakes they made, they continue to look outward — casting blame on anybody and everybody but themselves.Read the full article.

3) ‘Fake News’ in America: Homegrown, and Far From NewChris Hedges, Truthdig
The media landscape in America is dominated by “fake news.” It has been for decades. This fake news does not emanate from the Kremlin. It is a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry that is skillfully designed and managed by public relations agencies, publicists and communications departments on behalf of individuals, government and corporations to manipulate public opinion. This propaganda industry stages pseudo-events to shape our perception of reality. The public is so awash in these lies, delivered 24 hours a day through electronic devices and print, that viewers and readers can no longer distinguish between truth and fiction.Read the full article.

Canadians think there are way more Muslims in Canada than there really are.
We think a third of Canadians believe homosexuality is immoral, but in reality, only a sliver of the population thinks so.

On average, Canadians believe a quarter of the population think it's wrong to have sex before marriage. In reality, only 15% of us think you should get hitched before hooking up.Read/hear the full article.

For several weeks now I’ve been saying to myself that I’m going to write to you, and the tragic events of Aleppo and your reaction to them, and sometimes your non-reaction, is what eventually persuaded me that the time had come to address you.Read the full article.

Trump and Brexit, terrorist attacks and death. The endless deaths. All those celebrities passing away and, well, in case somebody feels like fixating on that, the countless dead in wars, bombings and shootings as the viciousness of human hatred was on full display. A year of hackers, hotheads and liars.Read the full article.

When are capitalists in favour of public ownership? When it earns them a profit. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than when looking at car companies.Read the full article.

8) Michigan Dem Meeting Breaks Into Violence as Clinton Fans Repel Sanders PartisansMichael Sainato, Observer
On December 3, the Michigan Democratic Party held a committee meeting, open to the public and party members, to vote on delegates to represent Michigan at the Democratic National Committee. Unfortunately, rather than learning from Hillary Clinton’s presidential election loss, and sincerely welcoming Bernie Sanders supporters into the party after scolding them for more than a year, the Democratic establishment has continued treating progressives as second class citizens.Read the full article.

There's no doubt tolls hurt poor people, but a car-dominated transportation system does far more damage and everyone who wants a more just society should support measures that help rid our over-heating planet of private automobiles.Read the full article.

10) The CIA Is Not Your FriendJordy Cummings, Jacobin
The Central Intelligence Agency used to be the “bad guy.” After the coup in Chile and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam; after spying on and repressing the antiwar movement; after secret mind-control experiments and bizarre assassination plots, the agency became liberals’ ultimate bogeyman.Read the full article.

But he’s facing a major obstacle: Trump will enter the White House as the least-popular incoming president in the modern era of public-opinion polling.Read the full article.

12) Unhappy Holidays: Houston Police Force Homeless People to Throw Away FoodJeremiah Jones, Counter Current News
Local activists attempting to hand out food and gifts were shocked on Thursday afternoon when Houston police forced the homeless to throw away the donations. Around 1 pm on Thursday, several individuals met in downtown Houston to distribute plates of hot food, blankets, and other supplies to the city’s growing homeless population. Soon after, Houston police arrived on the scene of two different intersections where the homeless advocates were giving out gifts and food.Read the full article.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed this year and I look forward to seeing what interesting viewpoints and arguments we see next year!

(Remember that if you have a left point-of-view or opinion, a recipe or a story you want to share or if you want to share a petition/appeal or upcoming event you can send them to The Left Chapter via theleftchapter@outlook.com!)

Here, without further ado, are the top ten posts (in terms of hits) on The Left Chapter in 2016:

You know, it is always appalling to see some oblivious white idiot walking around with the horrifically racist Cleveland Indians logo on their chest or on some sign of some kind.

I did not see this specific idiot in the picture, but saw another entitled white idiot, strolling down the platform of the Go Station after a Jays-Indians game this year with this disgraceful caricature on the front of her jersey.

Toronto's Ukrainian Festival is an annual celebration of Ukrainian culture and food that takes place on Bloor St. W. and that draws large crowds looking to enjoy some traditional song and dance, perogies and all the other things that get people out to festivals. The organizers say it is the world's largest such festival.

Canada's politicians and media have bought into a long-term project driven by right-wing notions of society and the economy that seeks to re-frame public services as "businesses" that should be run "efficiently" along the lines allegedly followed by the private sector.

After a generation of retreat that saw its abandoning of the welfare state and of any meaningful advocacy for working people and much of the middle class in the United States, it can now truly be said that the wages of liberalism is Trump.

That time when newly minted President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for absolutely nothing other than having won an election in the wake of the George Bush apparent catastrophe and for having given nice speeches about "hope", closing down Guantanamo and supposedly taking the US in a new direction that would be a departure from the death dealing of the past.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

From a collection of cards that someone received as a young woman in the late 1940s, here are some seasonal vintage Christmas and holiday cards to bring a bit of respite from all of the retail line ups and family squabbles!

I love this one as it is rather pagan!

For the cat lover!

For the dog lover!

An interesting Christmas card as the image has no connection to Christmas!

About Me

The Left Chapter

The Left Chapter is a website created by Michael Laxer that shares news, blogs, events, videos, fiction & poetry and food writing from a leftist perspective.

Contributions from all leftist perspectives are welcome and can be sent to theleftchapter@outlook.com. If you are having an event that you would like us to share or want your website added to our "Sites of Note", please email them to this address.

If you are interested in republishing anything here, please contact us at the above email as well.